Greenville boys claim second at O-K White league jamboree

John Raffel
Sports Editor

LOWELL - Greenville's cross country teams endured hills and warmer weather to place second in the O-K White Conference boys race and third among the girls Wednesday.

With 61 points, the Yellow Jacket boys finished as runners-up behind Caledonia, with 23, among the six teams. The Greenville girls were third in the six-team girls race with 82 points behind East Grand Rapids' 46 and Caledonia's 75 points.

"Our boys ran exceptionally well today," said Jacket Co-Coach Jim Popma. "They were mentally prepared and did what they had to do. They all looked great."

Freshman Blake Bitner was tops for Greenville and fourth overall in 17:30 followed by Kellie Strandberg in 10th in 17:51, Tyler Tiffany in 13th in 18:09, Zach Caverley in 16th in 18:14, Mike Moy in 18th in 18:23, Jake Sherman in 23rd in 18:31 and Kody Donnelly in 28th in 18:55.

"Blake continues to pleasantly surprise us, as does Tyler Tiffany, who is a sophomore but a first-year runner," Popma noted. "Kellie Strandberg did not have a good race Saturday at Carson City-Crystal. He redeemed himself today."

"I did well," Tiffany said. "I'm pushing myself. My personal best was 17:47 at Cedar Springs."

The team's final O-K White race will be Oct. 17 at East Grand Rapids.

"Right now we're competing for second place with Lowell," Popma said. "Caledonia is pretty strong in first place."

Meanwhile, Micah Hamman led the Jacket girls with a time of 20:39, good for seventh place. Greenville also featured Chelsea Prahl in ninth in 20:52, Shelby Harris in 15th in 21:32, Elin Thorlund in 17th in 21:34, Mindy Patten in 34th in 22:48, Marcy VanDenHuevel in 36th in 22:50 and Tonya McKinley in the 40th spot in 23:20.

"You can't compare this course to Carson City's that we ran on Saturday," said Jacket Coach Amanda Gerhardt. "That one was flatter than Lowell's. This one was hilly."

"It was all right," Hamman said. "I started out too fast. My first mile was faster than I wanted. There were some steep hills on this course."

John Davis of Greenville won the junior varsity boys race in 18:30.

The Jacket harriers will run Monday at Belding.